Lu Shen didn't return to the apartment.
He withdrew through the right passage of the abandoned dental clinic, reaching the spot where he had parked his vehicle in advance.
A dark blue 1983 Toyota Crown, one of the most common private car models on the streets of Hong Kong.
Lu Shen sat in the driver's seat, observing Fang Jizhong's subsequent actions, then... followed.
Fang Jizhong's taxi was about 150 meters ahead of him.
The two cars passed through the underwater tunnel, emerging from the Kowloon Peninsula and merging onto the road heading towards the New Territories.
The streetlights began to thin out.
The city's neon lights were left behind, and the scent in the air changed.
Lu Shen knew Fang Jizhong wouldn't return home.
Fang Jizhong was heading straight for Luohu Port.
It was the right choice, but also the most dangerous one.
Right, because every minute of delay increased the risk of those items being intercepted...
Dangerous, because the road from Wan Chai to Luohu Port stretched forty kilometers, passing at least three potential checkpoints... Tai Po Road Toll Plaza, Fanling Interchange, and Sheung Shui Police Station.
If anyone had grown suspicious of Fang Jizhong tonight, those forty kilometers would become a forty-kilometer hunting ground.
So Lu Shen followed.
...
Forty minutes later, the taxi entered the outskirts of Luohu Port.
The speed slowed down.
The road ahead narrowed, flanked by low tin-roofed shacks and small freight warehouses still operating late into the night.
Lu Shen parked his car on a side road about 300 meters from the port gate, turned off the headlights, but left the engine running.
He pressed the binoculars to his right eye.
The eightfold magnification lens brought the scene 300 meters away into view... the gray exterior wall of the port building, the dim incandescent light at the entrance, the British Hong Kong guards standing inside the iron gate, and Fang Jizhong emerging from the taxi's back seat.
Fang Jizhong paid the fare without waiting for change, turned, and quickly walked towards a small side door of the port building.
That was the internal entrance for port staff... Fang Jizhong's status as a confidential secretary at Xinhua News Agency granted him access through this door.
Lu Shen watched him push the door open and disappear down the corridor.
The binoculars remained in place.
Waiting.
Before long, a light turned on in an office at the corner of the second floor.
Behind the frosted glass window, Fang Jizhong's blurred figure appeared at a desk, picking up the phone receiver.
Dialing.
The call lasted about ten seconds.
Fang Jizhong hung up the receiver, stood in the office for a few seconds, then turned off the light and left the room.
In the next eleven minutes, nothing happened in the binoculars' view. The port building stood quietly in the night, with only the entrance lights gently swaying in the breeze.
The twelfth minute.
A black sedan emerged from inside the port's perimeter wall, the body unmarked, but the license plate began with "Yue Z"... a special plate issued for cross-border official vehicles.
The car lights were off, only the position lights were on, resembling two half-open eyes in the dimness.
The car stopped in front of the port building's side door.
Fang Jizhong walked out from the side door, quickly heading towards the black sedan. The door was pushed open from the inside, and he bent down to get in.
The door closed.
The black sedan turned around, heading towards the port gate.
The gate's barrier slowly lifted... no inspection, no questioning, no routine exit procedures.
The car passed under the gate, driving onto Luohu Bridge.
Lu Shen's binoculars tracked the car, following it to the middle of the bridge... that barely discernible boundary line to the naked eye.
The car crossed the line.
From the British Hong Kong jurisdiction, entering the Chinese side.
Lu Shen slowly lowered the binoculars.
He sat in the driver's seat for a while, motionless, eyes fixed on the dense night sky above Luohu Bridge.
Then, he started the car, turned around, and drove onto the road back towards Hong Kong Island.
Behind him, the lights of Luohu Port grew smaller in the rearview mirror, eventually swallowed completely by the night.
...
The black sedan did not slow down after crossing Luohu Bridge.
Two people sat in the back... Fang Jizhong, and a man who had been inside before he got in.
Shen Yuefeng, the head of the Second Department's liaison station in Shenzhen.
He had arrived at the port within eight minutes of receiving Fang Jizhong's call.
Fang Jizhong had said only one sentence over the phone: "Red Arrow. Need to cross the bridge immediately."
At this moment, Shen Yuefeng sat in the back, leaning slightly forward, listening to Fang Jizhong recount the events of the past hour.
The air inside the car seemed to solidify.
By the time Fang Jizhong finished, Shen Yuefeng's back was soaked with cold sweat.
He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
"You're saying... Yu Ruoyin was killed?"
"The man is dead. I saw the photos, it's him, no mistake." Fang Jizhong's voice was hoarse from prolonged tension, "The defection list he carried was intercepted, thirty-seven names, none leaked."
Shen Yuefeng's fingers unconsciously clenched the bag on his lap.
"Who were they?"
"Don't know. Wore a hood the whole time, voice not altered, standard Mandarin, no obvious accent. The operation was extremely professional, from contact to withdrawal, seamless, no unnecessary moves." Fang Jizhong paused, "He said he was a comrade."
"You believe him?"
Fang Jizhong was silent for three seconds.
"I do."
Shen Yuefeng looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because if he wasn't one of us... if he were from the CIA, MI6, or any British Hong Kong agency... he had no reason to hand these things to me." Fang Jizhong patted the bag, "The list and technical data, hmm... or rather, they had no reason to let me go."
Shen Yuefeng didn't argue, because the logic was impeccable.
"There's one more thing." Fang Jizhong's voice suddenly changed, "He also mentioned something that, if verified, would be earth-shattering."
The air inside the car froze completely.
Shen Yuefeng's complexion became extremely complex under the dim light of the dashboard... he trusted Fang Jizhong, his comrade for many years!
Shen Yuefeng took a deep breath, opened his eyes.
"We'll talk at the station."
Fifteen minutes later, the car drove into an inconspicuous alley on the outskirts of Shenzhen.
At the end of the alley stood a three-story gray building, looking like a warehouse for a Supply and Marketing Cooperative... the iron gate tightly shut, no sign, no lights, even the house number deliberately removed.
This was the Second Department's secret liaison station in Shenzhen.
The iron gate opened from the inside, the car drove directly into the courtyard, and the gate closed immediately.
Shen Yuefeng led Fang Jizhong quickly up to the second floor, to a reinforced iron door at the end of the corridor. Shen Yuefeng unlocked three locks with a key and pushed the door open.
The room was small, about twenty square meters, simply furnished... a long table, a few folding chairs, a secure telephone, a fax machine, and a faded map of the Dragon Nation on the wall.
Shen Yuefeng dialed the secure phone.
The other end picked up after two rings...
"Codename Solitary Boat, Red Arrow Level, connect me to the department leadership immediately."
The duty room took less than forty seconds to complete identity verification and line encryption confirmation.
The line connected.
A low, slightly weary voice came from the other end... Vice Minister Zhou Huaichang, in charge of intelligence at the Second Department, clearly roused from bed, but his tone bore no complaint, only the cold efficiency honed by years of secret work.
"Speak."
Shen Yuefeng succinctly reported all the information Fang Jizhong had brought back.
The other end was silent for a moment.
But soon, Zhou Huaichang's voice sounded again,
"...Repeat the last part. On the list... Jin Youdai."
"Yes. Former Division Chief of the CIA's East Asia Operations Division, Jin Youdai, marked as our personnel on the list."
The other end fell silent again.
Then Zhou Huaichang's voice sounded again,
"...Repeat the last part, on the list... who?"
"Jin Youdai." Shen Yuefeng swallowed, "Former Division Chief of the CIA's East Asia Operations Division, clearly marked on the list as our deep-cover operative."
The other end fell into dead silence once more.
Jin Youdai!
The name exploded like a thunderclap in Zhou Huaichang's mind.
As the Vice Minister in charge of intelligence at the Second Department, Zhou Huaichang knew all too well the weight of this name.
Jin Youdai's true identity, within the entire intelligence system of the Dragon Nation, was "Top Secret of Top Secrets."
Those qualified to know he was our personnel, including Zhou Huaichang, numbered no more than five!
Shen Yuefeng wasn't qualified, and Fang Jizhong even less so! This chapter is updated first at g.com.
These two intelligence operatives fighting on the front lines in Shenzhen and Hong Kong couldn't possibly know Jin Youdai's background.
Their ability to report this name could only mean one thing...
The list Fang Jizhong brought back was real!
The young man working in the shadows, claiming to be a comrade, hadn't lied!
He had truly intercepted all the top-secret materials Yu Ruoyin carried!
Zhou Huaichang's grip on the red secure phone tightened abruptly.
His heart was filled with the delayed, immense joy and fear of standing on the edge of a cliff, watching the abyss about to swallow everything, only to be pulled back to solid ground by someone!
These past few days, since the confirmation of Yu Ruoyin's defection, the entire Second Department and even higher levels had been shrouded in tension.
The intelligence network that the Dragon Nation had spent an entire generation weaving, sacrificing countless lives and youth, was on the brink of being uprooted overnight.
And now, someone was telling him...
The network was saved.
Jin Youdai hadn't been betrayed, and the other thirty-six comrades lurking in the shadows were all out of danger.
The list had been intercepted mid-route, before reaching the CIA's desk!
Zhou Huaichang closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose hard, forcing back the sting in his eyes.
"About the technical data..." His voice finally steadied, "He mentioned the 5-axis Linkage?"
"Yes. Three rolls of microfilm, totaling 4,217 pages. The young comrade claimed it was the complete manufacturing process, from design to processing, all the data."
Zhou Huaichang made no comment on the technical issue.
Jin Youdai's name had already confirmed the authenticity of the intelligence, so the value of this technical data was undoubtedly beyond question.
He took a deep breath and issued the command.
"Listen carefully, send the materials to Beijing immediately. Military aircraft, Level-1 Security."
After a pause, Zhou Huaichang's tone turned cold, "Shen Yuefeng, you and Fang Jizhong will escort it personally. No one is to touch, copy, or retain it in any form. Once the plane lands, I'll be there at the airport to meet you."
"Understood!"
"One more thing." Zhou Huaichang interrupted Shen Yuefeng's response, his voice low, "After Fang Jizhong completes the handover in Beijing, he is not to stay. Have him return to Hong Kong immediately."
Shen Yuefeng was taken aback, "Return to Hong Kong? But after what he's been through tonight..."
Zhou Huaichang said coldly, "He must return, to his original position."
Zhou Huaichang gazed out at the Beijing night, "That young man claiming to be a comrade, having chosen Fang Jizhong as the channel to deliver intelligence, indicates he understands our personnel structure in Hong Kong.
Fang Jizhong returning is leaving a door open for him. We need to see... if this young man, who can operate under the Americans' noses and obtain the 5-axis Linkage technology, will contact him again."
"Yes! Will execute without fail!"
The call ended.
When Shen Yuefeng put down the receiver, his palm was drenched in sweat.
He turned to look at Fang Jizhong, sitting across the long table.
Fang Jizhong leaned back in the folding chair, hands crossed over his abdomen, the lenses of his glasses reflecting the light, obscuring his eyes.
Shen Yuefeng stood up, walked to the iron cabinet in the corner, opened it, and took out two military canvas bags and a roll of moisture-proof oil paper.
"Pack the items," he said, "The Vice Minister ordered, fly to Beijing overnight. After the handover, you return to Hong Kong."
Fang Jizhong nodded, asking no further questions, and stood up directly.
Shen Yuefeng wrapped and sealed the three items separately with the moisture-proof oil paper, placed them in the inner compartments of the canvas bags, tightened the drawstrings, and fastened the buckles.
The canvas bags were handed to Fang Jizhong, who slung them over his shoulder.
...
Forty minutes later, an unmarked military jeep carried the two men into a military airport's dedicated passage in Shenzhen.
At the end of the runway, a transport plane's propellers had begun to spin, the navigation lights under its belly blinking in the night like the pulse of a waking giant beast.
As Fang Jizhong ascended the gangway, he paused.
He looked back at the southern skyline.
In that direction lay Hong Kong.
The lights of Victoria Harbour cast a hazy orange glow beneath the horizon, like embers slowly burning.
In some corner of those embers, there was someone whose name and face he didn't know, likely already back at their residence, taking off their coat, sitting by the bed, as if nothing had happened.
Fang Jizhong knew it wouldn't be long before he returned to those neon lights.
He would continue to lurk in the shadows, like a silent anchor, waiting for that ghostly young man to once again deliver a world-shaking light from the darkness.
Fang Jizhong withdrew his gaze, turned, and strode into the cabin.
The cabin door closed with a roar behind him.
The engine's roar suddenly intensified, the aircraft trembled, taxied, accelerated, the nose lifted...
Thirty seconds later, the plane left the ground.
Heading north.
Towards Jingshi!